Freeform
by Rae Kid
Summary: For an entire year Aspen Jitters has floundered, searching desperately for answers as to why her own body is holding her hostage. The doctors say there's nothing wrong, but the doctors haven't seen anything like Ash before. She lost everything that night, though until now she never knew the cause. There was never any question as to what she would do- but where will it lead her?
1. A Pin Drops

Eyes, sunken and rimmed with dark circles. Hair, limp and stringy, obviously ill-kept. Skin, pale with the greyish, sickly pallor of the terminally ill. Aspen Jitters had definitely seen better days- and those days were almost exactly one year ago.

Her hands gripped the edge of the examination table with white fingers, the paper crinkling. She was torn between hoping, praying that this time, _this_ doctor might find something… and wishing with every fiber of her being that he didn't. It killed her, not knowing, but what if it really was _killing_ her…?

"Miss Jitters." came the supremely unimpressed voice of the doctor as he walked in, a very thick file in his hand. "And _what_ may be the problem _today?"_

She grit her teeth, knowing exactly what he'd find in that file, knowing how this would look to him. She'd been on this exam table far too many times over the past year with nothing found; but she wasn't lying. There was something _wrong_ with her!

"Doctor Oswald, you know very well what's wrong. I've told every doctor I've been to over and over again _what's wrong._ It's _your_ turn to find an explanation."

"Miss Jitters, this is a hospital. Every day the doctors here work hard to save people's lives, and there are hundreds of people being treated at any given moment. Wasting our time when there is _nothing wrong with you_ puts those lives in danger."

She glared up at him, eyes flashing. "I'm not lying! I'm not making this up! There's something _wrong_ with me and I need you to find it and _fix it!_ It isn't normal for someone's body to randomly seize up. It isn't normal to keep blacking out and lose hours of time!" She gestured to her body with a wave of her hand. _"This_ isn't normal! _This_ isn't healthy! I'm eating and sleeping the exact same amount as I usually do but I just keep wasting away!"

"Miss Jitters, this hospital has run every test imaginable for _every_ condition that could possibly explain your symptoms dozens of times. Every _single_ one has come back normal! The top diagnosticians at this hospital have been mulling over your case for _months_ and concluded that _there is nothing wrong with you._ If this is in fact real and not some misguided plea for attention, then I suggest that perhaps the help you require lies in another area of medicine. We have a highly qualified psychologist on staff-"

"I'm _not_ traumatized- this is _not_ all in my head and I'm _not_ lying!" she bellowed, beyond frustrated. "I'm not-" she sighed explosively and pulled at her hair. "You know what? Never mind. I'm done with you and I am _done_ with this hospital! When I drop dead it'll be on _your_ head!"

Ash snatched her purse and jacket from the back of the chair and stormed out of the office, tears streaming down her face. Best hospital in the country her ass- if they have jackasses like _him_ on staff who judge her before they've even examined her themselves then she's surprised anyone ever makes it out of this place alive!

It's when she gets into the car, keys in hand, that she really breaks down. How can there be nothing _wrong?_

 _Everything's wrong!_

She gasped for air as if she were drowning, resting her forehead on the wheel while her arms cradled her middle. "Why? _Why?"_

Just when she was about to really break down, her phone rang. Ash twitched a little, startled, and then hastily scrubbed the moisture out of her eyes.

"Hey Jade, what do you need honey?" she asked, voice unexpectedly hoarse.

"They didn't find anything again." It wasn't a question.

Ash took a shaky breath. "The doctor didn't even get that far, really. He was a real as- jerk. A real jerk. He took one look at my file and assumed I'm a hypochondriac or something."

Jade growled a little, deep in her throat. "I can 'talk' to him if you want." she offered.

Ash jerked upright, eyes wide. "What? No! No, that's not necessary."

"He made you cry." she said, as if that were reason enough.

Ash smiled softly. "He's just doing his job, honey. I can't really blame him- I know what it looks like. Sure, he could've been nicer about it, and yeah, he's kind of an a- jerk, but that doesn't mean he deserves to be traumatized. The world's full of guys like him, and if you went around beating all of them up you'd be driving before you were even half done."

There was a pause, and then a huff. "You know you can swear around me, right? I've heard it all before with Dad."

Ash rolled her eyes at the very unsubtle subject change. Jade would never vocally acknowledge she's wrong about anything. "Yeah, well, I don't want to be anything like your dad, so that's all the more reason _not_ to swear."

"Whatever." She heard some rustling on the other end, and then the sound of the fridge door opening. "We're out of milk, by the way. And bread. And eggs."

Ash's face met her palm. "You tried cooking French toast again, didn't you?" She'd learned over the past couple months that Jade can't cook. At all.

Another pause, and then- "maybe." She actually sounded a bit sheepish this time.

Ash huffed a laugh. "You're just not going to give up on that, are you?" But then, she hadn't really expected her to. Jade was stubborn like that, and a perfectionist. "Alright, I'll pick it up on the way home. I needed to stop by anyway to pick up what I need to make dinner. See you in about an hour."

"Yeah. Bye." There was a slight pause, and then- "Sorry" she tagged on a second before she hung up.

As the call cut out, Ash couldn't help but smile. Jade had come a long way in opening up since the day Ash found her on the streets of Central City, starving, bruised, and filthy.

It was clear something horrible had happened to her. When she first approached Jade was wary and tense, gripping what turned out to be a knife- one of several concealed about her person- in her dingy jacket. The first two and a half weeks she stayed at Ash's apartment she refused to say a word, and insisted that she watched the food prepared before she ate a single bite. She had a wild, hunted look about her, like a cornered animal, always casing the room for exits and jumping when a loud noise startled her or someone moved too fast.

That Jade would never have shown even the slightest hint of emotion, much less apologize. Ash was proud to have been able to help the girl as much as she had, proud of every pound she gained and every small gesture of trust that meant so much more with her than for other people. Jade was the only good thing in her life right now, and it was really Jade's presence- being _needed-_ that helped Ash pull through the downward spiral her life has been for the past year.

Sure enough, when Ash got back to her apartment the pervading smell of burnt food hung in the air, still strong enough to make her eyes water despite the open windows and the fan Jade had turned on. She also noted- without the slightest surprise but a tinge of affectionate exasperation- that the rest of the house was clean aside from the kitchen, which was a disaster area.

Jade was at the sink, scowling at the frying pan as she scraped at it with a metal spatula. When Ash entered the room she noticed immediately, that hair-trigger reflex not quite relaxed enough to let her guard down like that. It was barely perceptible, but Ash had spent enough time trying to read her that she picked up on the way her shoulders dipped and stiffened, how her lips turned slightly paler from how hard she was pressing them together. It was probably a reflex for her to slip into a defensive stance, ready to defend herself if Ash tried to hit her, and it broke her heart every time to see it.

"I'm not mad. I know you just want to learn how to cook to make things easier on me because you think you have to repay me or something, but you really don't have to. You don't have to do the laundry, or dust the bookcase, or wash the dishes. I took you in because I wanted to help you, not because I wanted a maid."

She looked off to the side and shrugged. "I was bored."

Ash raised an eyebrow. "Uh _huh._ Riiiight. Well, whatever the reason, I want you to know that you don't have to, and next time you try to cook? Don't keep on trying until you use up all the ingredients. You could have just waited and asked for my help when I got home."

Her jaw jutted out stubbornly. "I can do it."

"I know you can, but wouldn't it be easier if I showed you how first? I actually do like to cook, you know."

Her face shifted into what Ash called her 'I-will-do-this-or-I-will-die-trying' expression. "I can _do_ it."

She sighed. "Of course you can."

Grabbing the soap and pouring a generous amount onto the pan, she started scraping with renewed vigor. "I'll be more careful next time."

Ash set the groceries down on the counter and started putting them away, turning the radio on as she passed. "Maybe you should start with something a bit easier. Build up to french toast, you know? Things you make from scratch are always harder. It's not as easy to screw up a box of mac and cheese, for example."

Jade grunted dismissively, then set the now spotless pan in the dish strainer. They both worked for a minute, Ash at starting dinner and Jade at cleaning up her mess. Jade wasn't the chatty sort by any means and Ash didn't feel the need to break the silence so they both worked quietly, until Ash suddenly staggered in place, half falling into the closest chair.

It felt like being constricted, crushed. Like suffocating. Her limbs locked, the muscles seizing, and just when she couldn't so much as twitch a finger the pain started. Immobile, helpless, she couldn't even scream as an intense pain halfway between being burned alive and being electrocuted shot up her spine.

She'd positioned herself poorly in the chair and when her body gave that one convulsive shudder before it locked up she started to slip. Small, careful hands gingerly propped her up, then slid one hand down to grasp hers tightly. "Breathe, Ash. Remember to breathe through the pain."

If Ash had been mentally coherent enough to form a thought other than _arrrrghhhh!_ she might have been disturbed at how steady her voice was, how calm she was in the face of pain. She would have lamented again, over and over, the fact that Jade was so knowledgeable about ways to cope with it and wondered against her will what it was her bastard of a father did to her to get her to that point. Later that night her question will be answered again and again when she dreams about the scars all over Jade's body.

When the fit lets her go she goes limp, numb, and her face falls on Jade's shoulder. Thin arms wrap around her and in the back of Ash's mind she thinks about how sad it was that his was the most physical contact she'd ever had with Jade, who tended to react poorly and with proficient force when her personal bubble was invaded.

"I'm going to talk to that doctor." Jade says with steel in her voice as Ash gasped for air, shaking.

Before Ash can tell her not to, something clatters to the floor. Ash's eyes follow the sound and she blanched. "Jade." she said slowly, voice strained.

Jade followed her gaze to the plate on the floor- or what was left of it. Despite being a very sturdy plastic the thing was torn in half, very clear indentations on the sides in the shape of her fingers.


	2. Impossible Answers

Ash was getting very frustrated with Google. No, actually, she was more frustrated with herself, for not being able to put words to what just happened in the kitchen. Searching 'super strength' just brings up comic books and superhero cartoons. Typing in 'super strength+seizures' didn't turn up anything at all.

Finally Ash started thinking about the timeline and went with 'impossible things in Central City in the past year.' _That_ seemed to do the trick, because a bunch of blogs and Facebook posts popped up, the top hit being 'Saved By The Flash' by Iris West.

Curious, Ash clicked on the link and read in dumbfounded amazement the reported sightings of 'the Flash', a man who could apparently run so fast he could outrace explosions and whisk people away so quickly they think they've teleported.

Jade peered over her shoulder. "What is this, some blog about an urban legend? There's no way that's possible."

"This site's gotten thousands of hits, Jade, and collaboration from multiple sources telling the same story at any given incident. Whoever this Iris West is, she's good. Besides," Ash grabbed the remains of the plate on the computer desk and waved one of them at Jade, "how impossible is this?"

Jade remained silent, glaring intently at the screen.

Ash clicked a tab called 'The Burning Man' and the moment the picture loaded onto the screen her mouth fell open. "How is this possible?"

Ash sat there, dumbfounded, just staring at the mutilated plate in her hands, and thought, _'Is this real? Is this really me? Could I actually be… a part of this?'_

"What are you going to do? If this wasn't just a fluke. If you do have some kind of… power."

That was not a question she was prepared to answer. Possibly ever. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We don't even know if that's what this is yet. First, we have to experiment a bit, try to figure this out. I just… don't have any idea how to do that." Taking a steadying breath, she set the half of the plate she had in her hands back down on the table. "For now, let's just go eat dinner. The casserole should be about done by now."

Ash didn't sleep much that night, wondering what was happening to her. What she would do if she really did turn out to be some kind of… freak. Really, what can you do with super strength besides break things? And what did this mean for her?

The next morning she called into work and she and Jade headed to a nearby scrap yard. Here, she didn't have to worry about breaking something important while she… experimented.

And how was she going to do that, exactly? "So… now what? I don't have any idea where to even start."

Jade had a few ideas ready though. Obviously Ash wasn't the only one who didn't sleep much last night. "First, we go over the circumstances around each attack and if there's anything they had in common, any triggers. Start with last night- what were you thinking, feeling when it happened?"

What _had_ she been thinking about? "I was thinking about that doctor-" Jade growled "-and about… about what the other doctors at that hospital must think about me. How I had to schedule another appointment, maybe at another hospital. What would happen if they never found anything, if I just keep getting worse…"

There was a sick, nauseous feeling in her stomach, and then… then the muscles in her legs started to tighten. Startled, all thoughts of the hospital flew right out of her head and to her surprise, she immediately felt normal again.

"I- I felt something! I could feel a seizure start, but when I stopped thinking about the hospital it just stopped." Words could not describe just how incredibly _relieved_ she was. For the first time in months, she had something. She was getting answers.

"Negative feelings, then. What about the other times?"

"That time at the supermarket, I was short a dollar at the cash register. And then there was the time I was late to work and my boss yelled at me… How did I not notice this before?"

Jade gave her a small, rare smile. "You were looking for physical causes, not emotional triggers."

"Yeah, and maybe if I'd actually gone to those psychologists the doctors kept recommending I'd have noticed this sooner." She sighed, and then yelped when her muscles started contracting again. This time, curiously enough, she didn't feel any paralysis. "It's happening again!"

Jade moved closer, presumably to catch her if she fell over. "Don't fight it this time, just breathe through it."

Yeah, well, that was easier said than done. She tried to force down the panic and remain calm, but that was hard to do when she could see her skin visibly darken in ripples going down her arm. "Oh my god, what's happening?!"

"Ash, Ash calm down! The… change is triggered by negative emotion, so the more you panic the faster it happens."

"That's easy for you to say, you're not switching races!" she hissed, but closed her eyes anyway. Thinking back to her yoga classes, she started in on the breathing exercises they taught her.

Surprisingly, they actually did help. Now that she wasn't panicking she could _feel_ it, the… whatever it was that caused her to change. It hurt, yes, but it was more of a mild burn compared to what it usually was. It was… strange. Yeah, strange was really the only word for it.

Jade's voice broke her concentration. "I think it's done."

The change wasn't _too_ drastic, at least at the intensity it was at right now. Now that Ash had actually made it through the change instead of fighting it, she could tell a lot more about it. She instinctively knew that she could go further into whatever this was, that she was only about halfway to the peak of her power. As it was, she looked like she'd just come back from a tanning salon.

"This is so _weird…_ " Ash marvelled as she examined her arm.

"It doesn't seem to hurt." Jade commented after a moment. Her voice was calm and even, but Ash could tell by the slight widening of her eyes that she was just as affected as Ash was.

"No, not now that it's over. God, I can't even tell you how this feels. It's like… it's like I have high tension wires for bones, and if I just let go it'll snap."

"Alright, now let's experiment." Bending down, Jade picked up an iron rod that'd been lying around and tossed it to her. Caught by surprise, Ash fumbled for it and almost dropped it. "Try bending that in half."

Ash looked at the very solid rod in her hands and hesitated, then shrugged and applied a little pressure.

It was laughably easy, like she was bending a pool noodle instead of solid iron. With a slight groan the metal gave and Ash, fascinated, kept bending until it was twisted into a pretzel.

And there it was- proof that she was by no means normal anymore. Despite her apprehensions, she grinned ecstatically, elated, wondering what else she could do. Looking up, she caught the the excited gleam in Jade's eyes, the smile hovering about her lips, and knew that she felt it too.

"This is amazing! Did you see that?! That was _easy_ and I can get even _stronger_ if I wanted to!"

"Let's see what else you can do." She pressed a hubcap into her hands. "How far can you throw that?"

They spent hours experimenting with what she could do, and learned that she could throw a hubcap with enough force to dent a car door, could move but not lift a car with a bit of effort, jump two meters in the air, and that her newfound strength didn't make her any faster. In fact, it was a little harder to move than usual, especially at the joints. Not significantly so, but enough that she really had to work to twist herself into one of the mid-level yoga poses.

"I think we have a pretty good grasp of what you can do now." Jade said after the both of them were struggling to think up anything else to test. "You said you could go further?"

Ash hesitated. "Yeah…"

"What's wrong?"

It was hard to put into words… "I… don't know. I just feel like… like that's dangerous, somehow."

"But we _do_ have to figure out just what you're capable of. Better here, where you're safe, than when you actually need to use it and find out that you can't."

She couldn't fault that logic. "Okay, I'll try."

Taking a deep breath, she thought back to those months just after… _it_ happened, before she found Jade. That gaping chasm of grief and apathy that made any sort of positive emotions impossible. She made herself think about the morning right after, the horror she felt when she woke up to find…

As her mood darkened, so too did her skin. The pain she felt before when she had a seizure was back in full force, as well as the sudden paralysis. That feeling of not being able to control her body terrified her, and with the added fear the whole thing spiraled out of control.

"J-Ja-" she tried to speak, but to her horror her jaw would barely move.

Jade could tell that something was wrong. "Ash?" She called, her voice pitched higher with fear. "Ash, are you okay?!"

No, she was not okay. Her skin was now as black as pitch and she couldn't move. With a crack the ground gave underneath her and she sank in up to her ankles."Ash?" She cried, for once sounding like the fourteen year old girl she was. "Ash, you have to turn back!"

She would if she knew how!

Taking in a shuddery breath, Jade closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them again she'd gotten ahold of herself.

"Okay, so, you managed to stop the transformation before, but how?" She thought out loud. "This was all triggered by negative emotion so… right, that has to be it."

Jade turned to address Ash's statue self. "Ash, I know how terrifying this has to be right now, but I need you to calm down. The change was caused by negative emotion, so I bet the key to undoing that is positive emotion. Think about the happiest moment of your life- what you were wearing, who you were with, what the weather was like, anything you can remember."

The happiest time of her life?

 _She's coming out of the bathroom and there he is, pacing. When he hears the bathroom door shut he immediately spins around and grasps her waist._

" _So? What did it say?" He asks anxiously._

 _Ash smiles at him, and shows him what she was hiding behind her back. He studies it for a moment and then breaks out into an ecstatic grin. He pulls her against his body and spins her around until she's dizzy, then kisses her breathless._

John…

" _Marry me." he whispers while they lie naked in bed, her ear against his chest listening to his heartbeat. "God, I love you so much Ash, I'll never love anyone as much as you."_

 _Her heart skips a beat, and then starts pounding away so hard she could feel it in her_ teeth. _"Yes, yes of course I'll marry you!" She pushes herself up just so she could kiss him._

" _I'm going to get you a ring, Ash." He murmured as he kissed the top of her head. "I've been saving up for while now. Let's pick one out together tomorrow."_

" _Tomorrow." She agreed, then leaned down for another kiss, smiling seductively. "But tonight, I say we celebrate."_

"John," she gasped, so caught up in the memory that it didn't register that she was free again.

She pressed her hand against her chest as if to soothe the ache there, the longing. How long has it been since she felt that? A year? She was trying so hard not to remember, because it hurt so much more when she did.

"Ash." Jade's relieved exclamation broke her out of her revere. "Ash, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah. I'm fine." She lied.

Jade frowned and moved closer. "You're crying."

"What?" Startled, she lifted a hand to her cheeks, surprised when her fingertips came back wet. "I-I am." She hadn't even noticed. Shaking her head, she forced a smile in Jade's direction. "Just a little shaken up is all."

Jade wasn't buying it. "You look… strange."

"Gee thanks." Ash said sarcastically. That's-" but she didn't get to finish her sentence, because the next moment she felt a rush of heat crawl up her spine and her knees gave out from under her.

"Ash!" She heard Jade call for her, but it sounded muffled and distant. The last thing she was aware of before she passed out was a cold sensation in her arm, and then nothing.


	3. I'd Rather Wear Spandex

Jade knew before Ash could say a word. She took one look at Ash's face and said, "It's about time."

"What?"

She smirked. "You decided to be a superhero, right?"

Ash gaped at her. "You mean you were _expecting_ this?"

Jade scoffed. _"Please._ I know you. There was no way you were going to do anything else." She paused for a moment, then sighed tiredly. "Great, now I have to teach you how to throw a punch."

"I was debating going back to the Police Academy, actually." She said defensively.

Jade shrugged. "Why not do both?"

Ash shook her head vehemently. "No way. I'd be working in a room of cops and detectives, they'd figure it out in a heartbeat. Any injuries I'd get would be obvious and detract from my work, and they're both so physically demanding that I'd stretch myself thin in no time. No, it's best I stick to computers. Plus, this way I have some anonymity, without having to account for my time."

When she entered the Academy, she was aiming to become a computers forensic specialist. Contrary to popular belief, computer specialists weren't confined to the precinct- they actually spent a significant amount of time out in the field. It was perfect for her, allowing her to go out and make a difference and pursue her passion at the same time.

When her seizures made it impossible to continue on at the Academy, she decided to make a living as an independently contracted programmer and cyber security specialist. While it wasn't her dream job, it was actually ideal in this situation in that she can make her own hours so long as she gets everything done by the deadline.

"Soooo…" Ash began, "If I'm going to be a superhero, then where am I going to get a costume?"

"You are not wearing spandex." Jade put out immediately, her tone clearly saying that any argument on the matter would be soundly crushed.

"I'm not saying _spandex,"_ like hell was she going to wear spandex, latex, leather or any derivative thereof, "but I am going to need some body armor."

"True." She looked thoughtful. "I do know a guy, but…"

"You _know_ a guy?"

"I know him through my father." Jade continued ominously.

It took a moment for what she said to register, and then- "You _know a guy_ who sells _body armor?"_

"Please don't ask." She pleaded, half desperate, half beseeching. "It's dangerous for you to know."

Ash knew Jade's father wasn't the regular type of criminal by how well trained Jade was in martial arts, but she'd always figured that it was because he was forcing her into dangerous underground mixed martial art tournaments or something. Knowing how to procure body armor at a moment's notice, however, was a different thing entirely and pointed to something a lot more sinister.

Jade was begging, though. She never asked for anything more than the necessities, and even then she never really had to _ask._ Ash just gave them to her. If apologizing was an anathema for her, then asking for help was _unthinkable._ Begging…

She was silent for a moment, then moved on. "If you go to them, then your father will find out?"

Jade sagged in relief, then thought about it. "Not necessarily. Dad did something to get on his bad side a while ago and I've heard he's given a discount to any of his customers that plan to go against Dad ever since. Trouble is, he might just sell the information to a third party…."

"Then it's not worth the risk. I'd rather wear _spandex_ than risk your safety."

Jade's expression softened into something almost… fond, and then morphed momentarily into something unreadable, before settling on neutral.

"We'll… I don't know, we'll figure something out. The suit will probably have to be homemade… I _do_ have that money set aside for… something that will never happen, so…"

"What should it look like?"

"Uh…" That was a good question. "Any ideas?"

"Navy blue." Jade answered immediately. "It's best for urban camouflage."

"Really?" Ash asked, curious. "I thought black was best for stealth."

She shrugged. "Common misconception. Navy blue works far better."

"Okay, then navy blue will be the primary color, but what else? Superhero outfits usually have two colors, and I still need some kind of symbol."

Jade sighed, but nodded. "I recognize the necessity of iconography. Create a symbol to fear, something to remind criminals of your presence even when you're not around, something to draw their attention so that they target you instead of civilians. Going by that, the second color will need to be bright." She grimaced, as if the idea of deliberately drawing attention pained her.

Ash hummed thoughtfully. "Well, I always did like teal… a symbol, huh?" That's going to be a tough one. "I think I need a name before I decide on a symbol."

They both drew a blank on that one. Anything they came up with just sounded ridiculous- even for a superhero. The best one they came up with was 'Wonder Woman', and that was so ridiculous the both of them burst out laughing. It quickly turned into a game of who could think of the funniest name, and while it was a lot of fun, none of it was very helpful.

The next day Ash, having been proclaimed completely healed a week prior, started in on a strict training regime that Jade had devised during her free time. The first two weeks they spent discovering the limitations of her powers, even more so than they already had that first day.

They learned that when Ash went super hard, she also became a lot heavier and shrank quite a bit. At maximum output, she was about the same height as Jade, who was 4'9''. Conversely, when she went the other way she got lighter and taller, until she was approximately 6'7'' and lighter than air, exactly a foot taller than her normal height.

They also figured out that like heavyweight mode made it harder for her to move, lightweight mode made her faster and more agile, but also weaker and more susceptible to damage. Ash accidentally fractured her arm blocking a hit from Jade while they were experimenting with it in actual combat, which set training back a week while they waited for it to heal up. Thankfully, they also found out that she heals slightly faster than normal, which was good to know.

Flying, it seemed, was currently beyond her. Going lighter than air allowed her to float, but there was no way to propel her, something that severely disappointed Ash. If she jumped from something or fell, she could stop herself midair and just sort of float there, but that was it.

One of the things Ash has been focusing on with her powers is switching between phases more quickly. She was actually grateful for the injuries she received from the car explosion, because they served to highlight a problem she might not have discovered for a long time otherwise: when she tried to go between heavyweight and lightweight, there was a split second in which her body was in its normal, unenhanced, vulnerable state.

After some experimentation, they discovered that this was unavoidable. She couldn't just immediately switch between the two, so she started working on switching faster so that she could reduce that risk. In addition to that, Jade thought it was a good idea to work out a system of levels for her powers in respect to hardness. After all, not every job was going to need her full strength. It was good to know exactly how hard she could hit someone without risking lethal force.

That part was _hard_. She managed to get her switching time down pretty fast- she hardly needed any emotional trigger anymore- but controlling exactly how much strength she was putting out at any given time required a _lot_ of control. It was fairly intuitive and required a lot of repetition before it would become as instinctive as Jade's system demanded.

Once those first two weeks were up and Jade started her on physical conditioning though, that wasn't just hard, it was _hell._ Jade is one hell of a drill sergeant. She knows just how to break a body and just how long to wait for it to heal before she breaks it again. Every drill she assigned had to be done exactly right and the moment she slipped she had to start all over again. Ash takes yoga classes. She's pretty damn flexible, yet Jade managed to bend and twist her body in ways she didn't know were possible.

Ash had been aspiring to become a police officer- she was physically fit. She was very proficient at boxing. Yet when she started in on learning karate and muay thai- Jade says they'd work well with her strength- she found that she had a lot more trouble than she expected. Difficult enough to wonder whether or not she'd have even made it as a police officer. Jade said not to worry about it, that she was normal for someone just starting out, but it was hard to be optimistic when her stances made Jade cringe.

Despite her doubt, Ash did gradually improve enough that Jade was okay with letting her take to the streets. Two months after she started training, Ash was finally ready to take to make her debut as Central City's new hero!

... She just needed a costume first. And a name.

This superhero stuff is so much easier in comic books.


End file.
